Chapter 37: EXPLOSION! Megumin's mastery

Axel was up in flames as Scarlet floats in mid air, the wind blowing the smoke and sparks of fire through the air as well as blowing Scarlet's sliver hair. She had her eyes closed as she had put Darkness in her place, the blonde was unable to move as a good chunk of a building had collapsed on her lower body.

"I can smell them...they're coming." Scarlet said turning her head to the side as she flew towards the direction of the main gate of Axel. "Come, watch everything burn...no one can stop me.." She spoke those words in a two voices, hers and Salem's. Both of their voices were in unison as the Grimm girl smirked, she glanced over to the far left as she saw a couple of giant frogs leaping towards the forest Kazuma and the others were at.

The frogs hopped, and hopped as they stopped. Scarlet was floating of them as the giant frogs croaked, both were ready to launch their massive tongues at Scarlet to grab her. Scarlet grins widely as a black and white snake slithered out from behind the giant frogs, A King Taijitu. It had both of it's heads risen up hissing madly at the frogs. "Attack, and feast on those frogs!"

The giant frogs were about to leap high in the sky to flee, but the Grimm was quicker as the King Taijitu wrapped itself around both frogs and closed in on them both, hissing as their tongues slithered out of their mouths. The two frogs croaked trying to get away, but it was too late for them.

Scarlet cackled as she turns her head towards the forest, she could smell Megumin running towards her as she decided to fly towards her.

~~~

Megumin came to at the entrance of the forest as she saw Axel up in flames from where she was standing at. "No....the town..." The petite arc wizard shook in place as she fell to her knees. "Why?"

Kazuma and the other two were trying to deal with Akame and Tatsumi, they had wanted Megumin to flee and go get Darkness to help them out, but that all changed. Fate had struck down on Axel and Darkness as Scarlet had caused havoc for the town of Axel.

"Why you ask?" Scarlet asked as she creeps up from behind a burnt tree, her red Grimm eyes glowing within the thin smog. A mixture of smoke and fog, the fog had rolled in slowly and mixed together with the burning smoke from both the dead forest and Axel. "I'll tell you why Megumin, I'm evil. The only reason why I had you and your friends flee the battle with Salem and The Hound, was because it was my own task to do.. I didn't need any help from goodie goodies like you all. Now that I have devoured and absorbed Salem and her powers, I'm the true terror the Multiverse needs to fear." Shadow hands wrapped around Megumin's feet as the Grimm hands held her in place. "I can finish you all off one by one, but I've already took care of that blonde bimbo Darkness."

Megumin's eyes widen as she glares at Scarlet. "Y-You didn't? What did she ever do to you?!"

Scarlet grins as she slaps Megumin across the face. "Shut your mouth, I do what I need to in order to get my message out there, sure there were wanted posters of me. But now that I see things more clearly now, not everyone in the multiverse knows who I am, so let me ask you this.. What's one thing you fear the most?"

"I'm not going to tell you anything!" Megumin yelled as she bops Scarlet on the head with her staff. "Take that!" She kept hitting Scarlet on the head with her staff as she smirked thinking she hit a hard rusted nail. "Take this!"

Scarlet just stood there not pleased with what choice the petite arch wizard had made, she grabbed Megumin's staff and held it for a moment. "A poor choice." She cocked her arm back and made a fist, and brought her fist forward and gut punched Megumin. "I'll come back for you later, maybe you'll taste spicy. But for now, I have my main course waiting for me deep within the forest. That is, if the wolf and the fox got to them first."

Megumin's breath was taken away as she was punched in the gut hard, she vomits not just blood but a good chunk of undigested food that had been sitting in the pit of her stomach since this morning. The mix of blood and undigested food splattered over Scarlet's arm and dripped onto her foot, the arch wizard was weak now after losing her cookies. Her head hung down as the smell was terrible, Scarlet scoffed and flung her arm to the side as the mess on it was sent flying off to the side.

"Pathetic." Scarlet shook her foot as she flung the remaining vomit off. "Don't you go anywhere." She turned around and was about to walk away.

"W-Wait..." Megumin said as she slowly lifts her head up, she slowly lifted her arm up that held her staff. "E...Explosion..."

A magic circle appeared under Scarlet as the Grimm girl looked down at it, as she was caught in the blast of Megumin's explosion magic. Scarlet slowly walked out of it however, her inner tissue and muscles showing as her skin was completely burned off. Her inky black blood oozed out for a brief moment as her body started to heal up wrapping her exposed body in flesh. At first she seemed completely naked, but her clothing had also appeared on her body as well. "That's not how good girls play you know?" She had her back turned to Megumin as she hadn't heard a peep from the petite arch wizard. "Sleep, I'll come back for you."

~~~

Megumin slowly opened her eyes as she raised her head up, she glanced around as she felt the cold air blowing against her neck. She shivered as she glances down seeing the shadow hands wrapped around her legs still holding her in place. "I thought I was dreaming..but I guess not." Her stomach growled demanding food, it ached and felt empty. Then it dawned on her, the food that had been sitting inside her gut since this morning had been vomited up by her. She could see it on the ground completely undigested still, not to mention it smelt terrible as well. "Ugh....now I remember....I was gut punched by her....where did she?"

The petite arch wizard didn't even have to look for Scarlet, the Grimm girl was leaned up against a tree as she glanced over to her. "I told you I'd come back, didn't think I'd take the breath out of you to knock you unconscious." She started to walk towards Megumin. "If you're wondering where your friends are, I'll let you in on a little secret. Try looking up more often." She smirked as she pointed her thumb behind her. "You gonna leave them hanging upside down like that? Only you can save them."

Megumin was silent for a moment, as she saw Aqua and the others swinging from their legs. "Let them go!"

Scarlet snickered as the Grimm girl licked her lips. "Oh? I was hoping to have a barbecue with them as the main dish, and you as an appetizer... Or something smaller than an appetizer." The shadow hands dispersed from around Megumin's legs. "But, I suppose I'll give you a chance to save your friends. Give me everything you've got, unless puking out your guts is holding you back?"

Megumin adjusted her hat as she stood there, her stomach still growling as it wanted food. But she was ignoring her growling gut as she had to save her friends. "If I fail here, we can kiss our butts goodbye.."

Scarlet laughs a little. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you there. Your stomach is more talkative than you Megumin." She cracked her neck. "Come on...show me how much you can use your explosion magic, without passing out."

Megumin gulped as she knew it would be impossible, but what the petite arch wizard didn't know was that deep inside her. Her magic had built up enough for her to stay standing in a battle. "Okay...fine." Her body moved on it's own as she found herself rushing towards Scarlet, she smacked the Grimm girl hard with her staff as it nearly knocked Scarlet down. It only drew some blood from her head as the arch wizard was surprised.

"That one hurt..." Scarlet said growling as she headbutts Megumin, knocking her back. "Come on, get serious will you?"

Megumin stumbles as she was trying to keep her mind off of food, the more she thought about food, the louder her stomach got. Growling angrily at her for not feeding it, the arch wizard smacks her growling gut trying to keep it quiet. "Shhh!" She glanced at Scarlet as she held her staff up. "EXPLOSION!"

"This again huh?" Scarlet asked as she jumps out of the way of the magic circle, but something was different, there was more than one magic circle. "What?"

The explosion magic erupted as it engulfed Scarlet, but since there were more magic circles rather than one. It was going to be more than Scarlet's skin burned off, Megumin watched as she quickly ran towards her friends and was thinking of how to get them down. She thinks for a small moment as she kicks the tree, causing it to fall over. Since it was almost tipped over from the amount of weight that was put on it, the tree fell over as Aqua, Yunyun and Kazuma fell with the tree.

"Ow! Give us a warning next time!" Aqua yelled as she untied the rope from her foot.

The smoke cleared as Scarlet's skeleton stood there. "That wasn't too bad...you almost had me as a pile of ash...but you've turned your back on your enemy." Her body started to heal, as her skeleton was being covered. "I'll give you some credit though, but this isn't going to stop me from having you all join Darkness."